Last night Pegasus brought the news to this website of the Liberal "backbench revolt". Some discussion has already ensued, but the 'Strategy II' thread is all over the place so this is a thread to which that discussion can move.

It's the sort of opportunity that we have to seize immediately or not worry about. As I published on the other thread, here are the four backbenchers who deserve our congratulations and encouragement for standing against the Howard government on a moral issue, and one that is deeply disturbing for democracy. That is, mandatory detention, especially of families and children.

Today, says Howard Zinn, we have a president, who more than any before him, claims a special relationship with God.

Zinn worries about an administration that deploys Christian zealotry to justify a war against terrorism, a war that in reality seems more about establishing a new beachhead in the oil-rich Middle East.

How did the Oz's Daniel Cotterill know about this five days before News
Limited's "washington correspondents? Is he psychic, or did he jump the
gun on the official propoganda? Either way, his disclosure of the
Aegis as the combat system for the destroyers was published five days before the
"official announcement of the possible sale". Actually, Greenpeace were way ahead...

At any rate, part of Australia's Navy will soon await U.S. Command.

EXAMPLE #349785

In one of my earlier posts on global warming I was referring to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean around it acting like a fridge. Now there is more evidence that it does... Global warming thus is baloney... what we should urgently recognise is Global Hotting... It is difficult to know anything apart from the “minute

 

On his website, Mr Peter Faris QC says "we are at war with terror and militant Islam in the Middle East. We are at war with Islamic terror in our homeland ... "
A bit Nazi would you say?
... to pull out a fingernail of a terrorist in order to save a couple of million lives was morally right...

It's a tough cookie, running the Department of Immigration (DIMIA), and to be frank, the DIMIA foibles won't be over until The Fat Lady Sings.

The savage bloodbath engulfing the middle-east today can be traced directly to the mendacity of Great Britain in its dealings with the Arab peoples nearly a century ago.

Is this an ingenious use of framing or a lame resort to popular culture? I put the question because I am genuinely wondering. I have echoes of Liv Tyler asking, "Where is the ring-bearer?" Is this just a liberal version of escape?

Exactly how close are Australian and American defence ties? In Adelaide an important U.S. Homeland Security consultant has been influential in the election campaign of the current Premier. His ideas may be the real ones behind the Federal siezure of contol of major Australian ports.

A passing thought.. are the Adelaide defence/resources machinations "the real deal" or a decoy?

NB: This blog has been incorporated into "Halliburton Down Under, Above and Beyond" which is now (kindly) linked from prominent international watchdog Halliburton Watch

It’s hard to find a better example of current problems of media bias & the implications of cross-media ownership than the case of the Herald Sun vs the Greens. This is not ‘news’ per se – it’s been covered for example in the minority non-Murdoch press. But as the Alan Ramsey article linked to below shows (read the last paragraph) , it's been a story attracting little interest overall, despite it's significance.

One of the most memorable media articles in the last Federal election was the Herald Sun spectacular "Greens Support Illegal Drugs" by Gerard McManus on August 31 2004. The article, loaded with emotive rhetoric, was an undisguised, virulent attack piece that made a plethora of damaging claims regarding Green Party policy. It was also almost entirely factually false.

Pegasus initiated a discussion on Powerup about options of Your Democracy and Powerup working together.

I'm hoping he doesn't mind that I didn't agree with his conclusions entirely, but I think there's some interesting issues raised about how we see ourselves as citizens/activists/whatever on the internet.

So below is an extract from my reply to Pegasus, so that we may discuss this here if we like, as well as on Powerup.

As I've said before, Powerup is the place to go for those Not-Happy-John!ers who feel that a new political party - some sort of 'party of independents' perhaps - is the way to go. Please don't take this to mean I don't think you should stop engaging in this site, or even vigorously arguing the case for developing a new political party. Your Democracy is for everybody.

What could be more relevant to Your Democracy than the current ANU research program, the Democratic Audit of Australia? Running from 2002-2005, the aim of the audit in relation to Australian democracy is to:

"1) To make a major methodological contribution to the assessment of democracy...;

(2) To provide benchmarks for monitoring and international comparisons...; and

(3) To promote public debate over democratic issues—the Audit will contribute to a dialogue about the ways in which Australia’s democratic arrangements might be improved. With this in mind, the Program will over the next three years be communicating Audit findings through this web site and through discussion papers as well as through academic publishing."

Read on for more...